Via Gary at Uber Alles we see that there is a new report out that the largest counter terrorism exercised conducted since 9/11 was “was marred by communications problems, serious shortages of medical supplies and hospital rooms and confusion.” The context to this quote is a simulation of responding to a dirty bomb attack. Confusion is to be expected in any large scale exercise but I imagine that a dedicated administration that wants to improve domestic security and first responder resources could have seen a better exercise.
And hey it is not important as we got Saddam last week and that solves all problems… Right….
Well no. Oliver Willis is linking to a couple of stories that suggests there could be a series of attacks in New York City or other major metropolitan areas in the next couple of weeks. Well prepared and resourced first responders are the second best line of defense that we as a nation have against terrorism. The first is active and effective intelligence gathering and disruption of attacks and organizations before they can strike. However we do not have well prepared first responders due to conscious budgetary decisions made by the Bush Administration.
Crossposted at Fester’s Place